2020 Sophomore Summit: Where Inspiration Meets Preparation
Brattleboro, VT. On April 28th hundreds of high school sophomores from across Windham County will participate in the 4th Annual Sophomore Summit, the region’s largest career awareness, exploration, and planning event of the year. With over 30 different employers and organizations represented, students are able to see the variety of opportunity in their own backyards and the pathways to get there.
Kicking off the event this year is the affable Tom Bodett, known nationally for his radio work, and locally for his commitment to supporting the Windham County community. His newest venture is serving as the President of Hatchspace, “a non-profit dedicated to sharpening an appreciation for the work of human hands through the learning, practice, and teaching of woodworking.” This endeavor fits neatly with the Sophomore Summit theme of exploration, opportunity, and local connectivity. The keynote from Bodett promises to engage and energize the students before a day of field trips and workshops.
The day-long Summit is designed to help students better understand career options, and the pathways to reach them. Students will choose from 14 different workshops representing diverse career and industry pathways based on their interests, aptitudes, and professional aspirations. Workshops will be held at SIT Graduate Institute and throughout the community, including worksite tours at local businesses, training activities in the Nursing Laboratory at Vermont Technical College, and building competitions led by local architects, builders, and tradespeople. Last year, with the support of Brattleboro Community Television, students interested in film and marketing helped create a promotional video for the Summit, which can be viewed at brattleborodevelopment.com/sophomore-summit. This year, aspiring marketing and production students will be in charge of social media accounts to capture and share the experiences of their peers.
The Sophomore Summit is organized through BDCC’s Pipelines and Pathways Program, in partnership with the McClure Foundation, Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, Southern Vermont Area Health Education Center, Vermont Technical College, Let’s Grow Kids, and employer and education partners throughout the region. The Pipelines and Pathways Program (P3) is developing career awareness and pathways with students in all of Windham County’s high schools.
Students interested in attending must contact school counselors for a permission slip and/or sign-up form.
About The Southern Vermont Workforce Center of Excellence
The Southern Vermont Workforce Center of Excellence (WFCoE) is an employer-driven system of Workforce and Education partners aligned behind strategies developed through the regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy developed by SeVEDS. It is staffed and the strategies implemented by the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC). The central workforce goals are to increase the size and quality of the workforce, raise median household income, and increase the 25-44 age cohort. The vision for the Workforce Center of Excellence is to ensure every person in the region can access the education, training and support needed to secure meaningful work, career and wage growth, and to identify and fulfill the regional workforce needs of our regional employers to ensure no good job goes unfilled. For more information please visit https://brattleborodevelopment.com/workforce/
About the Pipelines & Pathways Program (P3)
The Pipelines and Pathways Program provides employment oriented career-planning for the region’s high school students. It brings training in 21st Century skills, work-based learning, and personal learning plan (PLP) engagement opportunities to all four public high schools in Windham County. The program assists in developing workforce-oriented curricula, expanding classroom relationships, and growing work-based learning with opportunities local employers. It will also support teachers working face to face with students to implement personal learning plans and seize the myriad opportunities presented by Vermont’s Flexible Pathways Initiative under Act 77. Pipelines & Pathways a BDCC Workforce Center of Excellence program based on SeVEDS strategies to increase the size and quality of the workforce. For more information please visit https://brattleborodevelopment.com/workforce/
About the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation
The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation is a private, nonprofit economic development organization that serves as a catalyst for industrial and commercial growth throughout Southeastern Vermont, including Windham County and the towns of Readsboro, Searsburg, Winhall and Weston. BDCC serves as the State of Vermont’s certified Regional Development Corporation (RDC) for the greater Windham County area. BDCC is one of 12 RDCs throughout Vermont. BDCC activities are made possible in part by a grant from the State of Vermont through the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. For more information visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/
Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) is an affiliate of BDCC that grew from a 2008 grassroots effort, initiated by BDCC, to understand and create long term strategies needed to reverse the economic decline of the Windham Region and plan for the economic impacts from the closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. In 2014, after multiple years of regional input, education and data gathering, SeVEDS received federal approval for the Windham Region’s federally recognized S.M.A.R.T. Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). SeVEDS partnered with Bennington’s Regional Economic Development Group in 2018 to develop the 2019 Southern Vermont Zone CEDS. For more information visit: www.seveds.com
